ABOVE: Arriva Wales 1001 (CX17 BYB), an ADL Enviro400 City, stands at the Llangollen terminus of route 5, on Parade Street, awaiting its return to Wrexham. As bi-lingual signage is required in Wales, the display will alternate between the English "Wrexham" and the Welsh equivalent, "Wrecsam". Except where noted, photos in this article were taken on Thursday 18 June 2026.
100 British Bus Routes: Route 5
Wrexham to Llangollen
1 August 2026
Runs: Daily (no Sunday evening service)
Operator: Arriva Wales
Weekday daytime frequency: Every 30 minutes
Weekday Vehicle Requirement: Three buses
Off-peak journey time (weekdays): 38-39 minutes
Estimated route length: 12-13 miles
There's a monument in Wrexham called "The Arc", which depicts a miner and a steelworker on brick plinths, feet astride two steel arcs. They are at full stretch, each trying to bend the arc to meet at the top. The Arc was unveiled in 1996:
Sitting in the Welsh mountains and the lower Dee Valley, near the border with Cheshire in England, the city of Wrexham has historically been one of the primary settlements of Wales, and was the largest settlement in Wales for a time in the 17th century. In the Industrial Revolution from the 18th century onwards, Wrexham and the surrounding area was a major centre of coal and lead mining, as well as the production of iron, steel and leather.
The Bus Station, from which our route 5 commences, is said (by the local council) to be one of the busiest in Wales, seeing over 180,000 departures per year. It was opened in 2003 on the site of an earlier Bus Station dating back to the 1960s. But, despite several visits over the last few years, I only seem to have a picture of the back end of it:
My 09:00 departure is on the stand a few minutes ahead of schedule. The vehicle is a highly-specified ADL Enviro400 City, with coach-seating and some tables on the top deck. This batch of vehicles was bought to upgrade route 1 (Wrexham to Chester) and, to commemorate that fact, most carry (subtle) route 1 branding, as well as more obvious Arriva Sapphire branding.
We pass the "North Wales Cat Centre"; officially the Wrexham offices of Cats Protection, the UK's largest cat welfare charity, before venturing out over the bridge that crosses the railway line beside Wrexham Central station. The main claim to fame of this single platform terminus station is that the Wrexham to Bidston line, which it services, is now operated with class 230 diesel-battery electric "D-trains" that were once D78 District Line London Underground stock (see Wikipedia for the history of these trains since leaving London):
ABOVE: Transport for Wales 230 008, a former London Underground District Line train, arrives into Wrexham Central station on Friday 19 June 2026, working a service from Bidston.
On the bridge itself, we pass one of the five routes and variants that head out of Wrexham along the Ruabon Road. Although route 4 runs to Mold, north-west of here, route 4A has a south-western trajectory, to Afon Eitha, not far from where we'll be heading.
ABOVE: Arriva Wales 2147 (DK15 EHB), an ADL Enviro200, on Bradley Road near Wrexham Central station
A right turn brings us to the Ruabon Road and the extensive Wrexham Cemetery. Covering 7.2 hectares, over 39,000 burials have taken place there since its opening in 1876 (source: Wrexham Council).
This part of the Ruabon Road is industrial in nature, with several car dealerships. I include this view of the Wrexham Tyres Garage purely because I'm struck by the gradients here. You may not be able to tell, but the roof of even the tallest van parked up in the garage is below the level of the main road:
The middle part of this road, as we move from Ruabon Road to Wrexham Road, is a mix of residential, retail and countryside.
ABOVE: Arriva Wales 1001 again, on the Wrexham Road near the China Star restaurant in Rhostyllen
We are now in the village of Rhostyllen, but it looks again like a typical out-of-town industrial / retail estate. DAF, Peugeot and Ford are all on this stretch of road. There's a real blast from the past as the "Little Chef" stop is announced. I spent a lot of time in establishments like that in the 1990s, when I started driving! I wonder if I called in here...? The most likely building to have hosted that establishment is a Subway / Starbucks combo, adjacent to a Travelodge. Sounds like the right spot.
We cross under the major A483 trunk road, which links Swansea to Chester via mid Wales.
Just adjacent to the junction is a prominent hill. This is the Bonc yr Hafod, found in the Country Park of the same name. The hill is a large, landscaped former coal mining spoil heap left behind by the old Hafod Colliery, which closed down in 1968. At the very top of the hill sits a miners' sundial sculpture celebrating the area's rich mining heritage.
ABOVE: Bonc Yr Hafod is prominent on the right-hand side of this view looking north-east towards the A483 junction, with Wrexham somewhere beyond...
The Ruabon Road has long-since become the Wrexham Road by this point, as we head for Johnstown. Actually a village, Johnstown forms part of the historic coal mining community of Rhosllannerchrugog, the neighbouring village. Johnstown is thought to have been named after John Bury, a mid-19th century member of Wrexham's first Town Council, who built several houses in the area. The disused mine at Hafod, that former the Country Park, is just to the east of the village.
This village of around 4,000 people is significant enough to have a High Street. The "New Inn", which sits next to the War Memorial, is one of the village's oldest surviving structures, originating prior to 1850, when Johnstown was a small settlement on the turnpike between Wrexham and Ruabon (source: Under a Welsh Sky).
We pass down a dual-carriageway as we approach Ruabon. The road takes us under the Chester to Shrewsbury railway line.
There is evidence that a settlement existed in Ruabon in the Bronze Age. From the mid-19th century, Ruabon became famous across the UK, for its red bricks and terracotta, which earnt the village the nickname "Terracottapolis". The area was once heavily industrialised with large deposits of iron, coal and clay.
St Mary's Church, recorded in 1253 and rebuilt in the 19th century, is Grade-I listed.
The A483 runs close by, and an edge-of-village junction steers traffic away from the village centre, which is therefore pretty quiet.
The edge-of-village junction I just mentioned is the Colliery Wheel Roundabout, with five exits taking traffic off in various directions. Half of a massive historic pit winding wheel was installed in the centre of the roundabout in 2011, to commemorate the area's rich coal mining heritage:
A short distance down the road is Plas Madoc, a housing estate. There was an ironworks on this land, including a charcoal-fired blast furnace. The site was developed with an Iron Works on the estate by around 1817, and a coal mine, in the form of the "Plas Madoc Colliery" soon after.
Route 5 stays on the main road, but other services dig deeper into the estate:
ABOVE: Arriva Wales 702 (MX12 KVU), an Optare Solo SR, stands on Hampden Way in Plas Madoc, heading for Wrexham on a working of local circular route 2C.
At the edge of the estate is The Pillar of Madoc. Despite appearances, this is a modern installation, unveiled in 2001. It was designed and carved by sculptor Ed Williams using ideas from the local community. The sculpture relates to the passing of time and to historical events, both political and social, that have occurred in the locality.
The pre-Christian era is represented at the base, with imagery of Celtic and Welsh mythology up to the time of Prince Madoc (in Welsh folklore, Madog ab Owain Gwynedd was a Welsh prince who sailed to the Americas in 1170, over 300 years before Christopher Columbus's voyage in 1492).
The panels further up the column depict the industrial revolution, and images from the present day are represented at the top of the column:
We pass through the village of Acrefair:
ABOVE: The wait is over for the two prospective passengers for route 5 in Acrefair, as Arriva Wales 1012 (CX17 BXP), an ADL Enviro400 City, approaches the Hampden Arms stop in Acrefair, en route for Wrexham.
Trinity Hall originally served as a local Presbyterian place of worship, but gradually fell out of religious use and into commercial units, before being partitioned into residential flats:
ABOVE: Trinity Hall, Acrefair (right)
We're into the Vale of Llangollen now and the scenery is becoming picturesque. The village of Trevor is largely made up of 19th- and 20th-century cottages for workers in the area's traditional industries of limestone quarrying and brick-making.
Trevor lies on the Llangollen Canal at the northern end of the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct. This 19-arched stone and cast iron structure, designed for narrowboats, is 12 feet wide, and is the longest aqueduct in Great Britain as well as the highest canal aqueduct in the world. It is just off the route of the 5 and I don't catch sight of it during this journey.
Anyone completing their day after hiking to the Viaduct might end up in the "Aussie Rooster" public house. This was opened over 160 years ago as the "Australia Arms":
The run from here towards Llangollen takes us through very scenic roads, well away from any residential areas:
The River Dee is nearby (albeit out of sight at this point) and the major A5 road, which starts at Marble Arch in London, is just the other side of the river, as it heads for Holyhead. The views now are lovely:
Half a mile from the Town Centre comes the first significant building I have seen for a while. This is a local pharmacy / Health Centre. It's out-of-town location may not be the most helpful for some of its potential customers, though...
ABOVE: Passing the Rowlands Pharmacy on the outskirts of Llangollen is Lloyds Coaches BV24 LMO, a Volvo B8RLE MCV Evora, working TrawsCymru route T3 from Barmouth to Wrexham. It is two hours or so into its journey, with another 35-40 minutes to go.
We come into town past the Bridge End Hotel, which boasts the "best sun trap in town for some sunny afternoon drinks and food while you watch the kayakers and white-water rafters conquer the beautiful waters [of the river]". The Dee is now right alongside on the left, and the Shropshire Union Canal, Llangollen Branch, is behind the tress to the right.
We enter the Town Centre by crossing the Dee (picture later) - I think the previous opportunity to cross the river is all the way back to the Aqueduct. The bus drives round the block to terminate on Parade Street (see title picture).
Llangollen is a town of just over 3600 people (2021 Census figures). St Collen, a seventh-century monk, is said to have arrived in Llangollen by coracle and founded a church here. The Welsh word "llan", such a common word in Welsh place names, means a religious settlement, so Llangollen is the religious settlement of St Collen.
Scandal hit the town in 1780 when Eleanor Butler and Sarah Ponsonby, two upper class Irish women, moved in together and lived in the town as a couple. They became known as the Ladies of Llangollen, and William Wordsworth wrote a sonnet about them, "To the Lady E.B and the Hon. Miss P". They lived in the fine house that is Plas Newydd - now a Museum.
Llangollen is a popular tourist destination, and it's easy to see why. This modest town, either side of the banks of the River Dee, sits in stunning countryside at the north-eastern edge of the Berwyn Range - an isolated, sparsely populated expanse of heather-clad moorland. A few miles to the North is the World's End Nature Reserve, described as comprising "steep walking ... epic scenery and quality climbing" by Local Guide Daniel Hobbins.
We're also close to Offa's Dyke, the eighth-century monument that provides a path along the English-Welsh border.
And there's a heritage railway...
ABOVE: On Friday 19 June, a two-car diesel multiple unit sits in Llangollen station after a journey from Corwen
I love a ride on a Heritage Railway, so I can't resist trying out the Llangollen Railway, which runs from here to Corwen, eight miles or so to the west. It's a remnant of a Great Western Railway line that ran from Ruabon all the way to Barmouth, on the west coast of Wales. The line closed in 1965 and the Llangollen Railway arrived in 1981.
But I have timed it badly. As I arrive in Llangollen, the train is just about to leave, and, on this off-peak day, there won't be another departure for two hours. So, the next day, I make my way to Corwen to make sure that I can have a trip on the railway!
I'm rather surprised to learn that this Corwen station only dates back to 2023. It was built by the Llangollen Railway as part of an extension project and it looks amazing!
ABOVE: Corwen station stands in a dominant position next to the main town car park which also doubles as the bus interchange. On Friday 19 June, the two-car diesel multiple unit that will be departing for Llangollen shortly takes centre stage as a TrawsCymru vehicle on route T8 from Chester lays over.
It's a lovely 44-minute journey back to Llangollen. My diesel train is such a gentle runner that, when the driver switches the engine on, the purr is so faint that my first thought is that the starter hasn't worked! Steam trains run on selected peak days.
The railway line clings close to the River Dee and the views are delightful:
ABOVE: Taken on Friday 19 June 2026.
And the view from Llangollen Town Centre, looking west towards the railway station and the river, is breathtaking!
ABOVE: Llangollen Railway Station and the River Dee, with the Llangollen Methodist Church in the centre background.
Other bus routes call into Llangollen. Route 64, operated by Tanat Valley Coaches, is a twisty route that heads south-east to the edge of the Welsh border, Chirk, before digging deep into the west and south-west to terminate at Llanarmon Dyffryn Ceiriog, a village right in the heart of the Berwyn Range. It looks like a "must-do" ride, except that it's an irregular service and the terminus is a long way from civilisation...
ABOVE: Tanat Valley Coaches 230 (YX23 OXD) stands in Parade Street, Llangollen, between trips on route 64 to Llanarmon Dyffryn Ceiriog
Llangollen Bridge is thought to have originally been built by King Henry I (c. 1068-1135), reconstructed in the 14th century and replaced in the 16th. Various changes, including widening, have taken place since, and the modern bridge, considered to be one of the "seven wonders of Wales", is Grade-I listed. There are some great images on the Coflein website.
ABOVE: On Friday 19 June, Arriva Wales 1007 (CX17 BYJ), an ADL Enviro400 City, crosses Llangollen Bridge on another journey to Wrexham.
But this article has really been about route 5. It's quite a routine start to the journey as it works its way out of Wrexham, but it becomes steadily more interesting as it goes, and the last few miles are genuinely stunning, as is the destination! Typical of North Wales, in fact!
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